


2 very different paths.

by absolutelysmitten



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-23 13:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10720521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absolutelysmitten/pseuds/absolutelysmitten
Summary: au !choi seungcheol, a recently promoted detective at the songpa district police force is presented with a number of weird, similar thefts and robberies that he promised to look into, only to find out the story is far more complex and personal than he could ever imagine.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first archive of our own story, it's a bit shitty this first chapter because I just needed to lay the scene a bit and get some backdrop going u feel me?

As with any city, nights in Seoul were simultaneously beautiful yet bitter, there’s something calming about being able to walk along a path with no noises from cars or shops and relying on the streetlights on the other side of the road to keep you on your way – it’s peaceful. Yet, dangerous. As a child Seungcheol recalled the hundreds of news bulletins about people being attacked, being robbed, abducted and rather than recoiling in horror, a 9-year-old Seungcheol would sit, face almost pressed up against the TV screen, listening to every detail. It was that which pushed him into his career path. He’d joined the police cadets as soon as he could and hadn’t left the law enforcement track since then.   
It was the move to Songpa, Seoul, that really kick-started his career. The bigger district opened the doors to higher-profile cases, more frequent arrests and his hard work was beginning to show. Praise after praise, bonus after bonus, he soon found himself in a detective position; now in charge of a team rather than being in the team that was being charged. Whilst it was a stark change, it was one Seungcheol embraced with confidence.

14:26, Seungcheol sat at his desk, an elbow resting against the wood and his cheek cupped firmly in his open hand, head tilted as he surfed the police database for the 50th time that day, looking for nothing but hoping something might stick out to him. The case was a common sounding one, a couple of guys go out for a drink, it all gets a bit rowdy and they start arguing with another group of people, one thing leads to another and one of the guys ended up with a broken nose. ABH’s popped up so often they had little to no effect on Seungcheol anymore, it was just an unfortunate part of the job. 2 sets of fingers grip the top of the divider between the two sets of desks, pulling themselves up, a head appeared; arms folded as they rested their chin on the top of the divider. Seungcheol dragged his gaze from the computer screen to meet that of the young man in front of him.

“That’s a sight for sore eyes.” 

The co-worker chuckled, noting the bags under Seungcheol’s eyes that were natural to an extent but the lack of sleep that came with the job highlighted them further. Seungcheol glared at him, raising a hand to shoo him away.

“Knock it off, Junhui.” 

He replied, voice monotone. Junhui was an expat from China, he came here to pursue some other dream about performing dance professionally but just never managed to get the break he needed so turned to the police force as a way to make ends meet. He was talented, mind, at both policing and dancing but he was singlehandedly the most laid-back police officer Seungcheol had ever witnessed. His fringe was always allowed to just sit in front of his eyes, never pushed back like the majority of the force and 9 times out of 10, his tie would be halfway down his collar.

“Anyways, there’s this case that I overheard Jihoon and Soonyoung discussing over lunch the other day, so naturally I followed the gossip and decided to do some research.” 

He began, sliding down from the divider, pulling his computer chair round to place himself next to Seungcheol, one finger extending to turn the computer monitor off.  
A grunt passed the authoritative figure’s lips, his chair being spun round for him by Junhui so he could make sure he was tuned in. Before Junhui could even open his lips, Seungcheol winced, raising his hand in a ‘stop’ motion.

“Don’t waste my time with some made up shit.”   
Junhui raised a hand to his chest, gasping in a very over-dramatic, very junhui manner.  
“Give me a chance, jeez.” He snapped back, clearing his throat before he began to lay out papers onto the surface in front of them both.

“Ok so, there’s been this huge spike in small-scale robberies and thefts within the past 6-7 months, and they all seem to be around this small area of songpa, here, just by the Garden5 mall.” Junhui circled the area, both their hands crossing as they both tried to make sense of what Junhui was trying to explain. He looked up to see if Seungcheol was going to add anything but his eyes were fixed entirely on the map, darting from place to place, trying to see why Junhui thought this was so important. Jun produced another folder from his lap, sliding a couple of witness statements into Seungcheols eye-line.

“Well, I thought nothing of it until I started reading more into them. Almost all of the attacks happen within a 15-minute time slot every night, without fail. So I thought, that was weird, right? Then it got weirder. Most of the victims and witnessed recalled the perpetrator look more afraid than they did, but in a way, that scared them. One witnessed stated that the attacker looked so empty it was harrowing.” He explained as Seungcheol read through what was given to him. The words ‘empty’ ‘scared’ ‘harrowed’ darting out of the sheet of paper. He placed the sheets in a neat file, hitting the ends of the paper against the desk to keep them straight.

“Male or female?” Junhui paused for a moment before shrugging.

“Reported to be wearing a hat, but reports say their face is quite androgynous, so it’s hard to tell.” Seungcheol sighed, lips pursing together, there was little to go on in the way of identifying the attacker themselves and if it were anyone else, he would’ve told them to deal with it themselves and just come back if it gets any worse, but, Junhui wasn’t the type to come to him with nothing, if he had an instinct that something was off, it was usually off. Seungcheol took the file from Junhui’s fingers, adding it to the pile of his own, folding up the map and placing that on top too. He turned back to face his colleague.

“I’ll tell you what.” He raised an eyebrow, fingers tapping against the worn out oak table, “I’ll keep an eye out for any new cases coming in in the next week and if they keep fitting this same description then I’ll consider it more.” He offered. A huge smile spread across Jun’s lips, teeth shining back at Seungcheol as he hopped out of his chair.

“You’re the best. Coffee?” He asked, trying his best to keep Seungcheol on his sweet side;

“Black, please.”


	2. II.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- a change of scene and a change of view point.

The evening was damp; it’d been raining for the majority of the day and had just stopped, the smell of the rain absorbed by the pavement masking any other surrounding scents. It was getting late; the main wave of young people exiting whatever bar or food place they’d ended up in to walk home had just about ended and there’s something eerily quiet about watch the 15th empty packet of snacks get caught up in the wind and scattered past your feet as that sound of cheap ‘plastic’ film scraping the gravelly tarmac was the only thing filling pedestrian’s ears.

The high street was well lit; a few groups of people and people walking alone were beginning to head home before the sun began to rise, praying that they wouldn’t be greeted with a nasty hangover in the few hours to come. Behind these people, a figure, walking just slightly slower than the rest. Fingers that had almost changed colour due to the amount of dirt that had found its way into the creases of the skin, rose to grip the bill of their baseball cap, tugging it down firmly on their head; sliding their hands back into the pockets of a puffer jacket that for sure had seen better days. The colour was beginning to fade and there were chips where the covering had just disappeared and the fabric was open to the elements, on some parts there were just messy holes taken from the material all together. One of their shoe laces had come undone but they weren’t in any hurry to stop and tie it back up – converse – _very 2010_. They were getting to the end of the high street now and before they chose a direction to turn, they stopped and scanned the area: on the left, several groups of what they assumed to be students, in front, a couple and to the right, a lonesome individual. Their nose scrunched us as they sniffed, clearing their airways as they took a sharp turn to the right.

The brightness from his phone screen created a kind of ‘light-orb’ shield around him. Kang Daehoon, 21, final year university student. Standing approximately 166cm tall, he’d lost his friends in a bar several hours previous and no one was responding to any group chat message – though he’d expected they were completely passed out and at home safe, together so he had no reason to worry. Looking up to check where he was going, he consciously made an effort to check behind him – noting the same individual from before a few metres behind him. He thought nothing of it, really, probably just another person trying to find their way home. That was until, the footsteps he was hearing got quicker and louder as they approached.

“Give me that.” Daehoon slowed his feet, spinning around, shoving his phone out of sight, raising an eyebrow. The stranger took a step closer to him. Daehoon shook his head

“No?” He chuckled, noting the change from open palms to balled fists from the figure in front of him.

“Give me it.” The other said through gritted teeth as he lunged for him, fist meeting cheek; Daehoon fell back, narrowly avoiding the back of his head from smashing against the curb of the pavement.

He was stepped over, pinned down as the assailant tried to grab the phone from his pockets. Daehoon’s fingers grabbed desperately at his attacker’s chest, trying to push him off but to no avail, he was met by another punch to the face. He was beginning to taste his blood trickling from his lips now and he was getting desperate. The stranger was getting closer to his phone, Daehoon’s hand met their wrist as he attempted to pull them away, his nails digging into their skin, the attacker hissing in pain. Something, amidst the struggle, was falling out of the pocket of the puffer jacket and Daehoon spent no time in grabbing it. Another punch, his nose was sore and he could see his blood covering the knuckles of the man on top of him. As he began to pull the object out, the impression of panic came over the other man as he grabbed the other side of the object, the two tugging at it before Daehoon lifted his knee, managing to get his leg in the correct position to lung out, kicking the other straight in the stomach, winding him. As the assailant stumbled back, the object ripped; Daehoon finding himself left with the tiniest piece of what felt like a photograph but his vision was  
so distorted he couldn’t tell, in his palm. Wincing, he attempted to stand back up but was immediately shoved back down onto the floor and – _**black out.**_

Ransacking his pockets for everything Daehoon had on him, the attacker stood up and began to run as people were approaching the corner just before where the attack had taken place – the yells of ‘Stop’ ‘Come back’ turning into mere whispered echoes as they picked up speed and didn’t stop running, leaving a very battered and bruised Daehoon in the arms of a passer-by. As they met the entrance of the park, they took a deep breath, keeling over as the pain of being kicked straight in the stomach came back with vengeance. They managed to tug themselves around the corner of the metal bars, sitting with head resting on the gap between them, sliding that object from their pocket. A crumpled, near-ruined photograph was mostly intact, except, as they noted the bottom left corner had been ripped mid fight. A long, deep sigh left their lips.

“Shit, Jeonghan, pull yourself together.” He mumbled, taking off his cap to press the palm of his hand against his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut.


End file.
